The Way of the Master moment episode Do you have a crusade for 2017?

[evangelist6589]

What will you be fighting for in 2017? Will be against abortion? Against gay marriage? Against the false teachers? Against Roman Catholicism? Or what? My crusade makes no sense to the lot of people on this board just as your crusade would make no sense to me. But whatever zeal you have make sure to fight for it in 2017. And there goes another moment gone forever. Go share your faith while you still have time.

 

[Don]

Interesting. You mention three examples of things to fight "against"; then end with "go fight for it."

Just an observation.

 

[evangelist6589]

Interesting. You mention three examples of things to fight "against"; then end with "go fight for it."

Just an observation.

Don't let my grammar miscues get to your head. Just go fight for your crusade. What's yours Don?

 

[saved41199]

My "crusade" for this year is the same as last year. To be the best Christian I can be. To show Christ to my students (even if I want to stuff them in closets), To learn more than I knew last year and to grow closer to my Lord. Nothing big or earth shattering...just one voice among many trying to do a little bit in my little corner of the world.

 

[evangelist6589]

My "crusade" for this year is the same as last year. To be the best Christian I can be. To show Christ to my students (even if I want to stuff them in closets), To learn more than I knew last year and to grow closer to my Lord. Nothing big or earth shattering...just one voice among many trying to do a little bit in my little corner of the world.

Very good thanks for sharing

 

[Don]

Don't let my grammar miscues get to your head. Just go fight for your crusade. What's yours Don?

Wasn't commenting on grammar.

As an old pastor once said, don't be so standing against stuff, that you forget what you stand for.

What are YOU fighting for?

 

[evangelist6589]

Wasn't commenting on grammar.

As an old pastor once said, don't be so standing against stuff, that you forget what you stand for.

What are YOU fighting for?

My crusade is for the gospel and the essentials of the faith. So my stance would be against the false teachers that are deceiving a multitude into hell.

 

[Don]

My crusade is for the gospel and the essentials of the faith. So my stance would be against the false teachers that are deceiving a multitude into hell.

Cool. Just remember to not preach so much against false teachers, that you inadvertently forget to emphasize the gospel. Not saying you do; just putting out the reminder.

 

[evangelist6589]

Cool. Just remember to not preach so much against false teachers, that you inadvertently forget to emphasize the gospel. Not saying you do; just putting out the reminder.

One reason why I do street evangelism besides writing letters to false churches.

 

[JonC]

I was actually thinking the same thing as Don posted, although I know this is probably not what you meant by the thread.

It is heartbreaking to realize that to so many, both inside and outside of the faith, Christianity is defined by what we are against rather than the One for and in Whom we stand. I wanted to mention this when you were discussing writing letters to a church in D.C., but decided to let the opportunity pass.

So, I'll skip the crusade this year. Instead I'll stand for and in Christ, and pray that fewer and fewer churches in American will abandon their charter to embrace a para-church mentality and that a revival will take place within our churches. And I'll do this with all of my heart, against my mind which tells me we have passed that point., and with the hope God will surprise me.

 

[evangelist6589]

I was actually thinking the same thing as Don posted, although I know this is probably not what you meant by the thread.

It is heartbreaking to realize that to so many, both inside and outside of the faith, Christianity is defined by what we are against rather than the One for and in Whom we stand. I wanted to mention this when you were discussing writing letters to a church in D.C., but decided to let the opportunity pass.

So, I'll skip the crusade this year. Instead I'll stand for and in Christ, and pray that fewer and fewer churches in American will abandon their charter to embrace a para-church mentality and that a revival will take place within our churches. And I'll do this with all of my heart, against my mind which tells me we have passed that point., and with the hope God will surprise me.

If you stand strong for what you are for then you will stand strong with what you are against. You cannot be against the false teachers if you are not already for the gospel.

 

[JonC]

If you stand strong for what you are for then you will stand strong with what you are against. You cannot be against the false teachers if you are not already for the gospel.

Not necessarily. For example, Scripture teaches us to guard the church against false teachers, not fight against those not in our church. Think of it, brother. We expel the wicked man from our church, giving him over to the world. That is biblical. Crusading against the false teachings of the world is not.

 

[evangelist6589]

Not necessarily. For example, Scripture teaches us to guard the church against false teachers, not fight against those not in our church. Think of it, brother. We expel the wicked man from our church, giving him over to the world. That is biblical. Crusading against the false teachings of the world is not.

It also says to preach the gospel to every creature (Mk 16:15) and every letter of mine includes a gospel tract and gospel presentation in the content of the letter. And the text also says the following.

Psalms, Chapter 97, Verse 10
Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.

Psalms, Chapter 119, Verse 104Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.

If you truly have a HATE for evil and for every false way then you will act on it. Note I am not a pastor and therefore cannot guard the church from false doctrine and at the same time I hate evil and I hate every false way. How then should I act and what should I do given that I am not a pastor? That question goes unanswered. Also what of my 15,000 gospel tracts and what of the tracts that are more geared towards false teachers, false converts and those deceived? What do I do with them?

 

[JonC]

It also says to preach the gospel to every creature (Mk 16:15) and every letter of mine includes a gospel tract and gospel presentation in the content of the letter. And the text also says the following.

Psalms, Chapter 97, Verse 10
Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.

Psalms, Chapter 119, Verse 104Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.

If you truly have a HATE for evil and for every false way then you will act on it. Note I am not a pastor and therefore cannot guard the church from false doctrine and at the same time I hate evil and I hate every false way. How then should I act and what should I do given that I am not a pastor? That question goes unanswered. Also what of my 15,000 gospel tracts and what of the tracts that are more geared towards false teachers, false converts and those deceived? What do I do with them?

What did Jesus do, brother?

Jesus lived in a culture of false teachings and paganism. Did Jesus, even once, confront the false teachers outside of those teaching the Jews? Did Jesus ever write a letter to the First Temple of Zeus, urging them to change their ways?

What of the Apostles. Paul went to Athens. Did he confront their false teachings there? No, he presented the gospel of Christ. Why did Paul not confront the paganism? Because (so he writes) we are not to judge those of the world but those of the church. And what did Paul write or say to those false “Christian” teachers? Nothing. He just warned the church about them.

Have you ever wondered why nowhere in Scripture is this idea of going out and confronting false teachers present? Jesus didn’t do it. The Apostles didn’t do it. In fact, it was foreign to Christianity until the RCC.

What did Jesus do? What did the Apostles do? Do that instead of all this confronting the world of their false teachings. God has the world under control, even if it does not appear that way to us sometimes. My suggestion is that you leave the world to God and just stand in and for Christ as we are commanded to stand. Anything else is disobedience.

 

[evangelist6589]

What did Jesus do, brother?

Jesus lived in a culture of false teachings and paganism. Did Jesus, even once, confront the false teachers outside of those teaching the Jews? Did Jesus ever write a letter to the First Temple of Zeus, urging them to change their ways?

What of the Apostles. Paul went to Athens. Did he confront their false teachings there? No, he presented the gospel of Christ. Why did Paul not confront the paganism? Because (so he writes) we are not to judge those of the world but those of the church. And what did Paul write or say to those false “Christian” teachers? Nothing. He just warned the church about them.

Have you ever wondered why nowhere in Scripture is this idea of going out and confronting false teachers present? Jesus didn’t do it. The Apostles didn’t do it. In fact, it was foreign to Christianity until the RCC.

What did Jesus do? What did the Apostles do? Do that instead of all this confronting the world of their false teachings. God has the world under control, even if it does not appear that way to us sometimes. My suggestion is that you leave the world to God and just stand in and for Christ as we are commanded to stand. Anything else is disobedience.

Yes he said to go preach the gospel to every creature in Mark 16:15 of which what I am doing. Also why do you ignore the Psalms passages that I quoted? You cant get all your theology from what Jesus and the Apostles did, for its not all about what they did, but about what the scriptures teach and they clearly teach to preach to every creature.

 

[JonC]

Yes he said to go preach the gospel to every creature in Mark 16:15 of which what I am doing.

I never disagreed with you preaching the gospel of Christ. My disagreement was the idea that this means we crusade against false teachers and evil in the world. If preaching the gospel really means we go out into the world to confront false teachers then I suspect that Jesus and the Apostles would have done this as well. But they didn't.

 

[evangelist6589]

I never disagreed with you preaching the gospel of Christ. My disagreement was the idea that this means we crusade against false teachers and evil in the world. If preaching the gospel really means we go out into the world to confront false teachers then I suspect that Jesus and the Apostles would have done this as well. But they didn't.

Actually it is very clear from the letters to the churches in Revelation that battling heresy is a duty that Christ expects every christian to engage in. Christ spent much of his time to battling the false teachers of his day and it should be high on our agenda as well. Just take for example the churches in revelation notice that only two of the churches (smyrna and Philadelphia) were commended without a hint of rebuke.

I do not just battle the false teachers as I preach the gospel to them! True with some letters I ask for a conversation, and others I just plain condemn the false teacher, it all depends on the nature of the church. Unitarian Universalist Churches for example have received my strongest condemning letters. But with other churches I have had conversations with the false teacher and tried to bring him or her to saving faith in Christ.

Check out the book The Jesus You Cant Ignore. You may say well not a hint of writing a letter is mentioned in the book and the is true. But that same argument can also be made against tracts and we both know that the printing press did not exist during the time of Christ.

 

[evangelist6589]

I never disagreed with you preaching the gospel of Christ. My disagreement was the idea that this means we crusade against false teachers and evil in the world. If preaching the gospel really means we go out into the world to confront false teachers then I suspect that Jesus and the Apostles would have done this as well. But they didn't.

I never said we crusade against all evil in this world. But we do need to crusade against evil. Read the Psalms I mentioned. Ye that love the Lord must hate evil!

 

[JonC]

I never said we crusade against all evil in this world. But we do need to crusade against evil. Read the Psalms I mentioned. Ye that love the Lord must hate evil!

I think it is wonderful that you share the gospel. Someone, I can't remember who, once said sinners go to hell unsaved but never unloved.There is great truth in that statement, and your zeal for declaring this love is certainly admirable.

But, what I am saying is that IF that passage you mentioned was a command to seek out and confront false teachers then would not Jesus and the Apostles be guilty of disobedience?

If you want evil to hate, brother, take up my profession and pray that God will reveal evil within your own heart. If you are sincere, trust me, He will. And then repent and repeat.

 

[evangelist6589]

I think it is wonderful that you share the gospel. Someone, I can't remember who, once said sinners go to hell unsaved but never unloved.There is great truth in that statement, and your zeal for declaring this love is certainly admirable.

But, what I am saying is that IF that passage you mentioned was a command to seek out and confront false teachers then would not Jesus and the Apostles be guilty of disobedience?

If you want evil to hate, brother, take up my profession and pray that God will reveal evil within your own heart. If you are sincere, trust me, He will. And then repent and repeat.

Read my previous post.